Orlando examining downtown traffic

October 6, 2005|By Scott Powers, Sentinel Staff Writer

If Orlando's downtown creates traffic and parking challenges today, imagine what it will be like when thousands more people move into the district, a few more office and condo towers go up, and the central shopping and entertainment spots boom in the next five years.

With dozens of downtown developments on the drawing boards, city and area traffic planners are taking a close look at how to prepare the district's streets, bus system and parking.

The effort began in May, centered on an 18-month, $350,000 study by HDR Engineering.

Planners are inviting the public today to see early ideas, weigh in on them and offer suggestions. Officials have scheduled a workshop on concepts for traffic, parking, buses, trains, freight movement, and walking and bicycling routes. People will get to review displays and talk to planners from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Orange County Regional History Center, 65 E. Central Blvd.

"This is everyone's downtown," Dyer said. "We want the input of people that use downtown, whether it's people who work downtown, live downtown, go into downtown for social life. . . . We want them to help us create the transportation vision."

Among ideas being bandied about:

Define "downtown" as stretching from the Citrus Bowl to Thornton Park and from Florida Hospital to Orlando Regional Medical Center in order to coordinate traffic throughout the area.

Return some one-way streets to two-way streets.

Put in more on-street parking wherever possible.

Increase bus service into downtown, and coordinate it with light-rail or commuter-train systems that might be started.

Eliminate gaps in the pedestrian network, and create more bicycle lanes to encourage more people to walk and bike.

Restrict trucks to certain streets and times, but create more truck-only parking zones for freight delivery.

Extend the free Lymmo bus service east and west along Church Street, north as far as Florida Hospital and south as far as ORMC.